Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here, with a new chapter in Myths of Adventure! Man, it's been since October 16th since I've updated this story... wow; that's the longest hiatus I've ever had with this story! I'm just overwhelmed and this story wasn't the biggest priority, so sorry folks. If you can remember about what happened last chapter, the surviving Special Souls left Headquarters; after Pit's death and ran into Lucario's castle or cave. There, they saw some smashers who were rescued by Luigi defeat a group of alloys. Naoil, Raynard's girlfriend; left to attack the remaining smashers and managed to kill Samus, Falco, Luigi, and Meta Knight while Zelda sacrificed herself to destroy Naoil. So, that equals six dead characters in the matter of like 2'000 words. Yeesh, that's awful. Too bad more people have to die... *ducks first, smiling sheepishly* Seriously, this is also ridden with gore and sadness, as well as memories of people. So, enjoy (if you can) Chapter 10 of Myths of Adventure- Remembering Our Lives. I cannot believe it's been that long since I've updated this story.

The stunned silence that followed over our group was broken by Fox whispering under his breath. "Oh shit." Fox muttered, rubbing the back of his head with a paw. Natalia looked at him in amazement, surprised that this animal was talking, let alone wearing human clothing. Her hair was the same, last time I remembered it; the color being a spiky cardinal. Her eyes still shone, like a pair of gleaming sapphires. Without warning, I grabbed Natalia and hugged her.

"What the f-" Natalia started, then allowed me to put my arms around her.

"Hush Natalia. I need to hold you." I whispered, holding my girlfriend tight.

Link laughed at something and when I released myself from Natalia, I saw that her eyes were huge, and wide. Her mouth parted and spread out. She squealed, hugged me tight and danced around, holding me in her arms. "Lionel, oh Lionel! It's you!"

"Yes, it is me," I barely choke out. "Let me down!"

Natalia dropped me, like the obedient girl she always was. She settled for something more mature and not bone-crushing; deciding to throw her arms around me into a hug. I pressed her warm body against mine, my hands running through her hair. I felt like I was on cloud nine, now that my girlfriend was safe in my arms. I mean, I haven't seen her in maybe a week or so, and that's been the longest I've ever gone without human interaction; let alone my own girlfriend. It was great to hear her laugh, that perky smile that always adorned her naturally sunny disposition. Man, it felt great to see her again!

"Natalia, what are you doing here?" I cried, jumping up and down like a little toddler.

"I'd ask you the same question Lionel. How did you find Cairden? Did you find it the same way I did?" Natalia asked.

"There's a way to find-" I began and then I stopped. Natalia just mentioned the name of this world, and if I found it the same way she did... as if she'd been here before.

"I know what you're thinking," Natalia breathed, squeezing my hand. "How on Earth do I know the name of this place? Well, it's simple. I've been here before..."

I stared at her in stunned disbelief. My own girlfriend had already been here... she must have met everyone here a long time ago and somehow came back like the children in Narnia. Lucario laid a paw on my shoulder, and leaned into my ear.

"Do you recall how Pit said that there was a war not even awhile ago? That the southern whole tip of Cairden fell into the ocean, you remember him saying that? Well, err, Natalia was the leader dare I say it in our first Special Soul war. You aren't exactly special as you'd call it. Sorry to let you know that Lionel, but it's important to realize that someone came before you did. She was the first 'human' if that's the word you want me to use that arrived and had a whole bunch of shit happen to us." Lucario explained.

Natalia bit her lip, looking at the other Smashers with us in the cave. "However, when my war happened, no one died. Where's Zelda, Samus, Falco, Meta Knight, Luigi, and Pit?"

Fox's eyes clouded and he wrung his jacket in his hands. "Dead. I don't know if you remember Naoil and Raynard or not Natalia, but they were commanders of Ganondorf's Alloy force and this time it turns out they were stronger than we are. Naoil managed to kill Samus, Falco, Meta Knight, and Luigi seriously about half an hour ago. Zelda sacrificed herself for all of us. Pit died at Headquarters where we were attacked by an alloy army from Raynard."

I still could not believe the words that were coming into my ears. "I'm not special," I repeated. "There's nothing significant about me at all."

"Lucario did not mean that," Link comforted, looking up at the hurt that vibrated from my voice. "You just aren't the first person to be here. That's all. It's kind of ironic how you both are here. I mean aren't you two together?"

Natalia and I blushed. "Yeah." I admitted, kissing her on the cheek.

"I wasn't insinuating any sort of jab at you," Lucario apologized. "In all honesty, there is something different about you from her, Lionel. Raynard has mentioned several times that there is this power inside of you that he wants specifically. What it is, we do not know. Natalia knows what her power is, don't you?"

"I found out that if I uttered this spell from certain book hidden in Lucario's library, that once I spoke whatever the spell said; the enemy would freeze so it could be destroyed. Then I found out, quite devastatingly that it only works on those damn alloy's that Raynard summons with the snap of his fingers. In case you somehow haven't noticed, that's Raynard 'power', the ability to have mechanical monsters to obey at your beck and call by just making the swift motion of snapping some fingers. I believe that there is no way to stop Raynard from doing that unless he is killed, which obviously we've not succeeded at doing..." Natalia explained.

"What happened in your first war you guys," I asked out in general, to everyone in the cave. "Why was there a battle in the first place?"

Lucario decided to take that question upon himself. "Natalia explained to us that when she got here that she was from a planet or world should I say called Earth. That is where you are from, I'll take it since you two look so alike. We all had to tell her that there were more than one world in the Solar System or galaxy we all live in. By using portals, people could be transported here and fro from each so called world. There are several more even we Smashers do not know about. Natalia said that Earth was attacked nearly five months ago in some place named Seattle, Washington. She was dropped here, literally on one of our dining room tables while Fox was cooking us breakfast. Natalia was in a daze of some sort, and there; just like you; was a scar given by a sword somewhere on her body. Pit said the same thing to you, she had been bashed into with a sword by some unknown assailant. Well, one day we were teaching her how to fight when Samus got a reading on her map of Cairden that a large amassing force of some unrecognizable material was growing and spreading out on the coast of southern Cairden. We all, the Smashers of HQ and the Gods went down there to investigate because the commotion being recorded was off the charts. What we saw was a nasty surprise, truly mesmerizing and horrifying at the same time."

"There we saw Ganondorf, someone you've never met. He was a warlock from another world named Hyrule. He'd recently discovered the power of making these metallic creatures that could battle for him. Raynard and Naoil and some other assassin were with him, standing in front of one of the largest forces of enemies we've ever seen. Raynard caught sight of Natalia and then chaos took over. We must've battled for nearly three whole days. That was when Luigi went missing, and Mario here became a total, uttering wreck. Marth almost died while locked in combat with Ganondorf. Raynard had slowly advanced to out front lines and tried to attack Natalia. That was when Natalia thought of something quickly and spoke the spell that she has. Instead of seeing Raynard drop dead like a block of ice, all the alloys did. Ganondorf retreated from what we knew of and we went back to our regular day life. The unknown assassin I mentioned came about a month later and kidnapped Natalia from her room. Somehow she got away, but could not find her way back to HQ." Link finished telling the story to me.

"It was awful," Natalia shuddered, getting closer to me. "I never got to see the man's face, but he was going to take to me to Raynard. Never said what for. One moment, while he had to go do his business in the trees, I decided to try my spell again. This time, it froze the rope that bound my hands. Breaking them off, I stole the assassin's knife and fled. He wasn't able to find me after that, but I was not able to find anyone else from HQ or a single God from Monolithe while I traveled. I stumbled upon Alleviate Cave again, about two days ago to find it completely trashed. Three Smashers were stuck in cages here, but I couldn't do anything. I then ran into Luigi who told me quickly and daringly of what he saw over the past week, when he said you arrived. I knew I needed to find you."

"The rest is history." I assumed.

Natalia nodded. "Yes. But, now the problem is; what do we do from here? It seems to me that five extremely important Smashers are dead, one of which is our leader."

Ike shrugged. "That's our issue. We don't know what to do."

"Isn't it simple enough?" Fox blurted aloud, looking at Lucario.

"Not really Fox. Explain what you mean?" Lucario shot back, giving the mammal a bewildered glance.

"We need to make a portal and send Lionel and Natalia home. Then, when Raynard returns again, we attack him. Us five could take him down, can't we?"

"I don't know," Roy answered skittishly. "I'm not doubting any of our abilities, but I am questioning Raynard's. He's an extremely well trained swordsman, far superior to Ike and I combined."

"I defeated him." Link pointed out.

"By the skin of your teeth." Ike muttered.

"Enough," Lucario snapped angrily. "We won't get anywhere by arguing. Since I think venturing on would be a dumb move, I shall go and look back at my library. There will be some back on making portals in there, I know it. Once I find it, we can do whatever plan Fox has in mind. We just need to stay put. If anyone attacks us, we'll stand our ground and win. Trust me on this one you guys. Pit made me the leader, I'm not letting anyone down again. Not today."

Raynard felt something inside him snap. Violently, he ripped off his armor and stared down at his chest to see a ragged and haunting gray scar mark rip open near his hip bone. He looked at it once more, Ganondorf's words rippling through his mind, like a painful memory. "If this scar or wound ever appears on either one of your bodies, it means the other significant half is dead... the person attached to you has been killed by someone you hate. If it is any other color it means this person died of other ailments like sickness or a natural cause by their own stupidity."

Cranston walked in and nearly puked at the sight of Raynard's wound. "Oh Raynard, what the f*** is that thing?"

"A scar," Raynard answered, no emotion in his voice. "Ganondorf told me about it when Naoil and I were bonded. If this ever sprouted on my skin, it meant she died. However, with this slate color it means she was killed by someone I hate. Incidentally, I just sent her to deal with those pesky Special Souls hiding in Alleviate Cave. They f****** killed her. I never even got to say I loved her Cranston..."

"What are you going to do now?" Cranston asked, leaning against the side of the cavern pathway.

"I don't know. I want revenge... I need it. Thrice may have been my girlfriend, but to be honest I wasn't ever really too attached to her. How about this? You and one of my alloys go down and try to talk to Lionel and his friends. I want Lionel's immediate surrender. He refuses to accept my offer, you go in guns a blazing and you murder every last one of them. I'll jump in from behind and help you out with some of the dirty work, but only if you need me."

Cranston nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Let me go find my axe, and I'll go and be as much of a diplomat as I can. Sorry that Naoil is dead Raynard, she seemed really nice."

Raynard watched his second in command leave, as the youth was trying to find his weapon. "Lionel, I will murder you. I'll make sure I have Gleam carve my name into your back as you bow before me. You killed my girlfriend, so I'll kill yours. An eye for an eye is only fair, especially in this situation, no?"

Since Lucario easily put out to us that there was nothing to do, but sit like idle ducks in a pond; during a thunderstorm, I might as well talk to my girlfriend on all of the shit that has been happening to our lives in the past five months.

"I missed you," I murmured into her neck, leaning against her as we found a place to sit.

Natalia laughed, and placed her head against mine as well. "I missed you too."

"I still need to know how you got here," I said, looking up into my girlfriend's eyes. "You can ask me the same question, but I'll give you the same answer. I have no idea how I came here to Cairden or why I'm here for that matter."

Natalia sat up, and her eyes locked on to something out in the distance, into the cave. "As you know, I moved to Seattle because my father's job relocation. Well, about five months later, I was walking home from school when a rip in the sky happened. It was unbelievable to witness, and I stopped in awe to watch the phenomenon unfold in front of my eyes. Some spaceship of a sort entered this rift, right above the Seattle Needle. Needless to say, that monument was knocked over and it fell into the ground. People began panicking and running around everywhere, it was quite ridiculous. That was when these small gliders were deployed from the mother ship and flew to the ground. One flew near me and since the driver; which strangely looked like some metallic creature; had no idea how to use extra-terrestrial equipment, it hit a stop sign like a complete idiot and the driver and the rider both crashed into the ground. The driver, one of those weird alloys; crumbled to dust. The rider, the mechanical monster's accompanying figure was unhurt however. At this time, the entire city of Seattle was turning into a war zone as the area around me went from a tranquil street to have blazing fires erupt along the sidewalk. The rider stood up, and the person was cloaked all in black, a hood hiding the person's face. I backed up and hit a street lamp, as the lone malicious figure strode toward me, a gloved hand reaching into a sheath strapped to his or her side. The person drew out a sword, nearly five feet in length and raised high above their head. The person spoke, and it was a male. I almost thought I was going crazy, maybe I was dreaming or in a school simulation. It sounded as if the person said, 'Gleam, show this mundane what power you can unleash.' I felt a striking blow to my chest as the sword had been swung and it struck me. I slammed my head into the concrete and everything was black from there, until I woke up on the Smasher's dinner table, my body covered in black oil and blood."

I let Natalia's words ebb into my ears, and I thought about everything she said. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Gleam," I whispered. "I've heard the word before. Was this man naming the sword?"

Natalia nodded. "Looked like it. The person had a sword named Gleam. I know Raynard names his weapons as well, but he told me it's name was Perathinite, and besides it sounding fancy, it had no special meaning. You think you know anyone with a weapon given that title?"

I shook my head in dissent. "No, the name is not coming to mind and it is driving me insane Nat. I was struck with a sword, as you can tell, by this riveting scar on my forehead. It was bleeding when I arrived in Cairden."

Natalia was about to open her mouth to say something when I heard Roy's voice. "Heads up everyone, we have an alloy!"

I looked up and on the rocky ridge where Naoil stood just an hour ago was and lo and behold, an alloy took her place. Link notched an arrow at the metallic figurine. "What business do you have to be in here?"

After of moment of stunned stillness, the alloy spoke. "I am here for Mr. Lionel Grisald. There is someone here to see him."

"See me," I asked in disbelief, standing up and getting beside Link. "Someone's here to see me?"

"Yes," the alloy gravely intoned. "An ally of Raynard's wishes to speak with you, the message given from Raynard himself."

"He's not going anywhere," Lucario growled. "How can we trust you?"

"No harm shall come to Mr. Grisald if he agrees. Alloys do not care if brute force has to be exerted on anyone should you Smashers become stubborn. If he comes, Lionel will have a safe return." the alloy responded, turning to face the aura user.

Everyone looked at me in uncertainty. I bit my lip. "If I go, I can get injured by someone or something this alloy would be leading to me. If I refuse to join in on this meeting, my friends can get hurt. Either way, someone is going to die. It doesn't have to be put out there in black and white."

Roy and Ike shared a terse glance. "Lionel, are you going to go?" one of the flaming swordsman asked. Which it was, I do not remember.

I swallowed, and looked straight in the middle of the alloy's pallid circled lens that stood for it's eye. "Sure. I'll come. Should Master Raynard forego from his promise, I'll slit his throat with an arrow. Count on it."

"Lionel, you cannot be serious!" Natalia cried, grabbing my wrist.

"Natalia, let go. You don't know what Raynard wants. None of us know what he wants, but whatever it is, I'm going to find out. He obviously requested me."

"Are you sure about this Lionel? We cannot afford to having you running around here and getting hurt. There is a fine difference between brave and stupidity. We want to make sure you are not picking the latter option." Lucario said, his hazel eyes darkening with every word.

"No," I snapped, firmly shaking my head. "I am following that alloy into the cave Lucario. I need to know what is going on. Maybe if I go, Raynard will forever leave you."

Lucario shrugged. "I can see no point in trying to argue, I think you'll be fine. Mister Alloy, if Lionel gets hurt, you'll be the first piece of scrap metal Raynard owns to be cast into the incinerator.

"No harm will come of Mr. Lionel. We will make sure of it." the alloy interrupted, clearly miffed that scheduling was not happening as it should.

"We?" Fox questioned, perking his head up.

"Probably the person I'm meeting." I assumed, getting quite annoyed with this whole situation.

"Yes." the alloy nodded, turning back to walk into the cavern.

"May I go now," I asked my companions, looking around irritably. "I really do not want to keep some benevolent person waiting, because I bet; not too long from now; that person will no longer be as kind as that alloy is making it out to be."

Natalia kissed me on the cheek, and threw her arms around me in a hug. "Be careful Lionel. I'm not losing you again, you here?"

Removing myself from Natalia's embrace, I walked up the stone steps and followed the alloys heavy metal tread. Glancing back at the Smashers, I saw a flood of worried faces and grim looks. I smiled, trying to reassure them. "Don't worry you guys. I'll be right back." With that, I entered the cavern, getting swallowed up by darkness.

I was expecting Raynard, not this frail looking wire of a boy. I was ready to face down the tip of Raynard's sword at my throat and surrender all my whims of hope. This... this was pathetic. Sure, the boy looked built from the waist up, but even though; it wasn't much. His pallid skin glowed like x-ray fish under the water, and it was almost see-through. The boy sparked a match, and brought a pipe up to his lips so he could smoke. As the glint of the fire blew up by his eyes, I saw a pair of maroon eyes staring at me from afar, shrouded by a pale light. His saffron hair seemed to have cascades of blood dripping from the tips, as if he ran into a shower of the crimson liquid.

"Uh, hello." I said skittishly, balling up the ends of my shirt.

The boy held out a gloved hand, some rough leather covering his ghoulish skin. I now could get a clearer picture of the boy, now that the small lantern above lit his wiry figure. He seemed to be about my age. The boy smiled warmly, balancing his pipe in his left hand. "Nice to meet you. My name is Cranston."

"I'd rather not shake your hand." I blurted, backing up slightly.

Cranston smiled mischievously and lowered his hand, going back to smoke his pipe. "Smart boy aren't you, Lionel. Wise decision. That glove was poisoned, and had you shaken hands with me; you'd be dead right about now."

I blinked, my mouth slightly agape. "That freakish metal alloy of yours said no harm would come to me."

"On the contrary, we meant physical harm," Cranston smirked, extinguishing his pipe. "I'm more than thrilled to know that you agreed to our terms to speak with me. I offer you a gracious situation; one with much leniency. Raynard wants your total surrender, from every single Smasher and he'll spare your lives. In return, he wants you and that girl of yours to come with him to Monolithe. There, you'll have to use those fangled powers you have to cast down those three gods. After that, you and Natalia would be free to go. You could return home."

"This is my home," I spat. "Also, for Raynard's information, I have no idea what power I hold. Natalia knows hers, mine is still unknown to everyone down there. He'd waste his time considering my girlfriend's power freezes alloys, not humans. I don't even know mine so I would be useless to him. I'll have to decline."

Cranston's eyes lit up. "You disagree? I see. Well, prepare yourselves then Smashers. Raynard gave me instruction to go full force at you and kill every single person in that cave, including you. I'm supposed to attack until Raynard gets what he wants, the surrender of the Smashers. He'll have what he desires Lionel. Go and get ready. I'll give you ten minutes."

I backed up. "You shouldn't speak like that Cranston. Those Smashers are stronger than you think." Then I ran, not even wanting to cast a glance back at my now to be seen enemy. Before too long, I was back in Alleviate Cave, Lucario right at the foot of the entrance. He caught me, as I nearly ran off the ledge.

"Lionel, calm down. What's the matter?"

"We're under attack, Lucario," I answered, catching my breath. "That person I met with is an associate of Raynard. We were given the option to surrender and that Natalia and I would go to Monolithe with Raynard to destroy the gods. Should I of refused, we'd be met with death. I chose death."

Lucario nodded. "Wise decision my boy," he said. Looking up at everyone else in the room. "Listen up everyone. We will be bombarded by enemy attack in a few moments."

Suddenly, an explosion rocked us off our feet, and Lucario and I flopped to the ground. Whirling around, I saw Cranston standing in our place, a wicked steel axe placed in his hands. Behind him, a wave of immobile alloy statues stood; silently waiting for their master's beckon and call. "So sorry to disappoint my hosts Lionel. When I meant ten minutes, it was actually ten seconds. Prepare yourselves." he cackled.

It happened in a blur, if I had blinked, I would've missed it. Cranston raised his arm, the axe shining with pride. There was a sickening whish as Cranston released his weapon. I watched helplessly as the blade embedded in Fox's chest. Blood spewed everywhere and Fox collapsed, his body sinking around the axe. Lucario broke from his stunned silence and roared. "Attack Smashers!"

Chaos would be the only word to describe what came next. Link, Ike, and Roy reached for their swords and charged head on into the melee. Lucario stood in the middle, ready to channel his magic. Cranston leaped to the ground in front of me, his boots missing my head by a breadth of an inch. Stumbling away, I lunged for Pit's bow, and loaded a light arrow into it. The best thing about Pit's bow, all I had to do was imagine an arrow and it appear right between my hands. It's hard to hold light, you'd imagine, but the arrow materialized into something formidable and substantial. Roy had his back turned, and Cranston took the opportunity to reach his axe from Fox's now dead body. Hurling it as hard as he could, I heard Ike scream as Roy's head ricocheted off his body, the axe blade attached to it.

Lucario snapped from his concentration and I saw that he was glowing numerous colors, his eyes a bright lemonade. I knew exactly what he was about to do. He was going to execute his final smash. "ENOUGH!" he screamed. A jet of navy aura blasted from Lucario's hands and obliterated Cranston on the spot. Lucario gasped and gave a deep wail. His body lifted itself from the ground and a pallid light began to glow from his chest. A supernova was created in front of my eyes as Lucario disappeared, his death burning him up.

In stunned silence, the dead bodies of Cranston, Roy, and Fox burned up on the spot, vanishing from where they laid. In the total pandemonium of the battle, I forgot about Natalia. Her scream broke me out of my stupor. The three of us threw our attention to see Raynard appear from nowhere. His trusty sword was in his hand... slitting Mario's neck open with one swift move of his hand. Natalia tried to punch Raynard in the jaw, but he firmly grabbed my girlfriend and swung her into the rocky wall. I heard something snap.

"Natalia!" I screamed, running to my girlfriend.

Raynard intercepted me and grabbed me by my hair. "We need to have a talk."

"Natalia!" I cried out again. Link and Ike stood speechless and only began to move when Raynard dropped me onto my butt. Raynard touched the bottom of the stone wall, muttering under his breath. I felt a rip at my back, and shouting the whole way, I flew back into Raynard's newly created portal. The last glimpse of Cairden I got to see was Natalia's eyes close; her body shuddering.

The irony of this entire day, which seems to be f*** with Lionel Day is that I awoke in this new area just like I did when I arrived in Cairden. Standing up, my mind was still trying to comprehend what the hell just happened. I just watched six more people die... five of them my dear friend. No... I saw five people die. I refuse to accept that Natalia's own body adds to the count.

Raynard stood in front of me, his sword now sheathed. "Look at your surroundings Lionel. I think you'll find them to be in quite a disarray."

I looked up and gasped. I was lying in the middle of a asphalt street, total carnage around me. Looking past the Subspace commander I saw an unforgettable sight. It was the Statue of Liberty, the icon destroyed to pieces. I was standing amidst the ruins of New York City, my old home. Raynard was the one who destroyed it.

And there you have it everyone! Chapter 10 of Myths of Adventure. So yeah, that was a LOT of death. I haven't strayed from its original writing. That many people died in my first edit when I wrote this about three years back... so no words can formulate now. Only one more chapter left and I can finish this story, and it's the ending; the epilogue. I can finally be done with this. Hallelujah. I'll see you next time. Love ya!

~Paradigm